PRESS RELEASE FOR: COSMONAUT ON VACATION “SOLID GOLD LP” FOLLOWING UP LET THE MOMENT LAND (LTML), GREG SLAMEN/COSMONAUT ON VACATION IS QUIETLY SELF-RELEASING A SET OF GUITARLESS NEON-PSYCH-ACID-ROCK SONGS CALLED SOLID GOLD (9 TRACKS AT 30 MINS). SUMMED UP, THIS PURPOSEFULLY MINIMAL RECORD IS THICK AND SOMETIMES SWEEPING BASS LINES, DIZZYING LUSH SYNTHY PADS AND LOOPY SMACKING DRUMS. NOT AT ALL AN ELECTRONIC RECORD, BUT BUILT COMPLETELY WITH ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, SOLID GOLD IS A LOT LIKE MAKING SOME PASTA FROM SCRATCH AND WANTING TO SHARE A HELPING WITH A LOVED ONE YOU THINK MIGHT ENJOY IT. THE OPENING NUMBER, “DECODER (ELEKTROREDUXXX)” SMACKS OF NEO-PSYCH MS-20 MELODIES BACKED BY A DRONY THUMP OF A RHYMTH SECTION. THE TITLE TRACK “SOLID GOLD” FEELS LIKE A CHILLWAVE DRUGGY RENDITION OF SOMETHING LOU REED MIGHT HAVE NEVER DONE. “LIQUID OBERON WASTOID ORGASM” IS TRUE TO FORM NEON-MOTORIK EQUIPPED WITH A REPETITIVE VOCODER ANNOUNCING THE SONG TITLE BURNING INTO THE BRAIN LIKE HAVING TAKEN TOO MUCH NIACIN. THE ANITHESIS OF LTML, SLAMEN SINGS IN SIMPLIFIED MANTRAS WHILE THE BEAT DIGS INTO ACID HOUSE RHYTHMS ON THE TRACK “HIGH AS LOVE” STRONGLY SUGGESTING A NOD TOWARD AN EARLY HAPPY MONDAYS DEMO. THE ALBUM CLOSER, “TURNAROUND” COULD BE THE MOST MINIMAL THING SLAMEN HAS EVER ATTEMPTED, BESIDES THAT ONE TIME HE COMBED HIS HAIR. INSTRUMENTS USED FOR THIS COLLECTION OF RECORDINGS: KORG MS-20, ROLAND JUNO-106, AKAI MINIAK, NOVATION K-STATION, HOFNER VERYTHIN BASS, MACBOOK, ABLETON LIVE.
LET THE MOMENT LAND is born from the wildly inventive, collaborative world of the Birmingham, Alabama underground rock scene. In May 2011, Greg Slamen, formerly of Through the Sparks and Stateside, decided to start his own band and his own brand of spaced-out, psychedelic rock and roll. Influenced by the whimsy of the Kinks, attitude of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the swagger of Oasis and the melodic arrangements of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Slamen twisted seemingly simple chords into songs that ring fresh and inspired. He's not trying to reinvent the wheel. He just wants to drive the goddamn thing until they fall off.
Like his Through The Sparks brethren, Slamen can be a studio rat. "I love recording, even if it's stressful at times. I recorded a few tracks at [Les] Nuby's (Vulture Whale) Ol' Elegante [studio] and a few more at Jody Nelson's (Through The Sparks / Dorado) Alamalibu, and a couple of the tracks -- those electronic numbers -- I did those on my laptop. [The recording process] was the fun part for sure. It's the mixing and mastering that was excruciatingly but necessarily tedious."
“Les Nuby was very supportive from the beginning when I told him about this idea that I wanted to make a solo record (of sorts!). He's been a sounding board and encouraging voice throughout the process of getting this record together-- everything from advice on the demos, to engineering some of the songs, to giving me feedback on the masters when I was done with the record. The same is true of Jody Nelson. And I should mention Shawn Avery. He's got the ears and some wild ideas about production. He definitely had some influence on the way this thing sounded.” Slamen found inspiration in the feedback, and, as he puts it, “ decided to take my record a bit more seriously after that. Like pizza boxes, empty beer bottles, and lots of standing around in my underwear mixing and doing retakes instead of sleeping and spending time with friends and family. “
This attention gave forth a bizarre, crunchy, spacey throwback of a record – an album from the time when albums mattered. The sounds of a strange journey, as one might imagine if a mission-weary 1980s Cosmonaut took a much needed vacation in a Adriatic beach town. Come along – it is going to be fun.